''Syngnathus temminckii'' (longsnout pipefish) is the most common pipefish in

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

, ranging from

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...

(

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

) to the

Tugela River The Tugela River ( zu, Thukela; af, Tugelarivier) is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. With a total length of , it is one of the most important rivers of the country. The river originates in Mont-aux-Sources of the Dra ...

on the east coast of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

.Heemstra, P.C. (2004) Coastal Fishes of Southern Africa. NISC (PTY) LTD The fish is named in honor of

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dut ...

(1778-1858), the director of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (Leiden, Netherlands), where the type specimens are housed.

Biology

This species is common in

, usually in

eelgrass Eelgrass is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Zostera'', marine eelgrass * ''Vallisneria ''Vallisneria'' (named in honor of Antonio Vallisneri) is a genus of freshwater aquatic plant, commonly called eelgrass, tape grass o ...

beds, but has also been found offshore to depths of 110 m. Sexual maturity is reached at 12 cm, and breeding occurs from March to November. Males carry the developing embryos in a brood pouch on their belly.

Taxonomy

''Syngnathus temminckii'' was until 2013 synonymised with the European species '' S. acus'' (greater pipefish), but morphological data show that it is distinct.Mwale, M., Kaiser, H., Barker, N.P., Wilson, A.B. & Teske, P.R. (2013) Identification of a uniquely southern African clade of coastal pipefishes ''Syngnathus'' spp.. Journal of Fish Biology 82: 2045-2062 Genetic data further indicate that it is not even the sister taxon of ''S. acus'', but of another southern African species, the critically endangered estuarine pipefish, '' S. watermeyeri''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15709237 temminckii Taxa named by Johann Jakob Kaup Fish described in 1856

Biology

Taxonomy

See also

References